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The Plainfield store was packed with customers on Saturday. |
Payless ShoeSource, a busy Plainfield discount footwear shop at the corner of East Front Street and Watchung Avenue for more than 30 years, is going out of business.
Not because the Plainfield store is not full of shoppers.
For the second time in two years, its parent company (headquartered in Topeka, Kansas) recently declared bankruptcy and all US and Canadian stores are to be closed.
The Plainfield store has "Everything Must Go" signs in its windows.
2018 was a dismal year for brick-and-mortar retailers (as this USAToday story points out), with more than 5,500 stores closing.
They are being hurt buy a combination of several factors --
- Online shopping -- especially behemoth Amazon;
- Giant discount retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Kohls; and
- Complaints that its merchandise is outdated and behind the curve.
Additionally, it has not figured out how to beat the newer "fast fashion" chains such as Zara, H&M, Forever21 and Topshop, which are given that moniker for their quick knockoffs of high fashion trends.
There are plenty of other sneaker outlets in downtown Plainfield, but they are not as discounted as Payless.
The internet does not seem to have figured as much in the closing as it did with Plainfield's other recent business loss -- E&A Restaurant Supply (see my post here) -- since Payless had a robust website (which is no longer taking orders).
According to the company, stores began their going-out-of-business sales last Sunday, but the majority are expected to stay open through May. There is no word of how quickly the Plainfield store will shut down.
Plainfielders will now have to schlep to the DSW, Walmart or Target in the Watchung Square Mall for discount shoes. That means money NOT being spent in Plainfield.
Despite the loss, downtown Plainfield appears to be thriving, and even moving a little upscale -- with the opening of AT&T's Cricket phone store, and the upscaling of several other phone stores downtown, plus the newly opened Blink Fitness across from the former YWCA. I recently had trouble finding a parking space at 11:30 AM on a Sunday morning.
And I recently noticed a store dedicated to SOCCER merchandise on East Front near Watchung. About time!
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